Stollen bites with pistachio marzipan

Pre-festive health spell? What a good idea.

I was doing so well: I set out at the beginning of December for a pre-festive health spell. I figured I could do with losing a couple of pounds (I always can) before mince pies and mulled wine start to attack.

I wanted to give my liver and its neighbours a restful recharge before they needed to tackle pigs in blankets and mojitos. I thought a bit of fast before the feast would do everybody good, a few days of salads before potatoes roasted in goose fat and meringue roulades.

I was doing very well. I managed to dodge a cranberry ginger cake and several batches of mince pies.

I was sensible in my oatcakes-with-butter-and-jam (my recent obsession; I dare you not to get hooked even if you have none of the three elements homemade [I’m totally serious: I bake the oatcakes, churn butter myself and still have jars of jam left over from summer preserving session {but I know I go into overdrive sometimes}]) intake.

I didn’t test my panettone skills in advance, which usually results in consuming at least half of one right out of the oven.

I was doing fine and would have succeeded in my pre-tox if it wasn’t for these little devils.

What are Stollen bites?

Stollen bites are a cunning way of eating the equivalent of a whole Stollen log, bit by bit – or indeed bite by bite.

They trick you into thinking they’re nothing much, barely a morsel, half a raisin and a few crumbs of sugar in each. But oh man, it is simply impossible to stop at one, two – even four.

Fiddly to make, easy to eat

They do take a while to produce, being fiddly tricksters. The Stollen dough, buttery and beautiful, this time is ever so slightly less rich: with slightly lower fruit and almond element and no peel or cranberries.

It needs to be rolled out and shaped into long thin rolls wrapped around a strip of pistachio marzipan and a lick of apple preserve.

Neither is obligatory but both totally exquisite; I lifted the idea off Heston Blumenthal’s Waitrose Stollen and concocted my own recipe.

Then you cut the long thin rolls into squares, about 3 x 3cm, and that alone takes you an hour. By the time you’ve finished though, the first batch will have risen and be ready to go into the oven which is good timing.

Being little Stollens, they obviously need buttering and sugaring right out of the oven. This time ithe job is easier than with grown-up Stollen: simply dip the bites in a pot of melted butter and roll them in a saucerful of sugar. And repeat.

And then shower with icing sugar, just to make them look pretty.

So good - too good

I suppose it’s a good job they are so laborious and fiddly. Otherwise I dread to think: I might persuade myself they were also an Easter thing, or that you can have them for breakfast every other day. And that would have seriously catastrophic consequences…

But if you take the trouble (and are very well disciplined so you won’t eat them all yourself), Stollen bites make an excellent gift.

A few of them prettily boxed and wrapped can be given to friends and family – the only problem is they’ll want to come back for more!

More German Christmas recipes

The full-sized version of Stollen: this butter Stollen has a fruit and nut filling.

Certainly less common abroad, but popular in Germany is the Stollen filled with poppy seed mixture, Mohnstollen.

Just as laborious as Stollen bites and just as gorgeous are Zimtsterne, German cinnamon star biscuits with meringue coating.

More little Christmas treat recipes

Or go for the classic: gingerbread biscuits aka lebkuchen, also in the lavish, chocolate filled version.

And just so nobody says I’m in the German lobby - gingerbread biscotti, Italian cookies made to be dipped in strong espresso. Or milk.

And the English contender, mince pies! I usually bake the first batch in the beginning of November…